


Blueshift

by Starmouse123



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alien Castiel, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angel Castiel, Human Dean Winchester, M/M, Minor Character Death, Plot Driven, Slow Burn, WIP, long fic, temporary major character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:09:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7838899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starmouse123/pseuds/Starmouse123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a comet unexpectedly changes course and destroys the colonized planet they were raised on, Dean and Sam Winchester find refuge on their mother’s old spaceship, The Impala, now piloted by their friend Ellen and her motley crew.</p><p>Joined by their mentor Bobby and a strange stowaway named Castiel, they find themselves pursued by powerful forces that want humanity destroyed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Planet of Stull, 398 A.E.

#45

In the aftermath, the battlefield smoldered red, embers seething through blackened ash. Thick, choking smoke curled into the air, blanketing the ground, but the mangled corpses of his brethren could be seen rising out of the grey mist, towering hundreds of feet overhead. After a moment, Castiel stood up, letting the man he had killed slump back onto the ground, flecks of ash leaping into the air at the disturbance.

He let the blood on his blade drip red circles into the dirt as he listened for other movement. For several minutes, only the sound of constant wind whistled past him, broken occasionally by the distant thunder of the dismembered parts of his brothers and sisters crashing to the earth. The shadow of Sahaqiel’s corpse blocked out the red sun from where Castiel stood, throwing everything around him into darkness.

A faint cough echoed in the dead air.  

Castiel turned his head towards the sound. The battle had drained him too much to even think of transporting, so Castiel stepped over the uneven ground and drifts of ash, heading towards the base of Sahaqiel’s corpse. At first, the heavy smoke obscured his vision, but then the wind shifted, clearing the area in front of him.

“Finally found me, huh?” Dean Winchester said, and coughed again. He was sitting on the ground, propped up against the main shell of Sahaqiel, one leg bent at an unnatural angle. It was clear he could not move far. As Castiel approached, Dean looked up. “Did you – oh.”

Dean studied him for a long moment, eyes dropping to the blade still in Castiel’s hand. The expression on his face shuttered closed. “You killed him, didn’t you.”

It wasn’t a question. Castiel remained silent.

Dean closed his eyes, letting his head thud against the metallic wall behind him. When he opened them again, he didn’t bother raising his head back up. “Guess that means you didn’t listen.”

“Why would I have?” Castiel asked, cocking his head. “He never should have come here in the first place. It almost ruined everything. _You_ almost ruined everything.”

For some reason, Dean laughed at that, a sharp, disbelieving sound. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

The ground trembled under their feet as another piece of Sahaqiel broke off and plummeted to the earth a few yards away, sending up a plume of dirt and dust. Dean clutched at his leg, hissing in pain at the sudden movement.

When he recovered, Dean looked back up. “Your plan with Lucifer won’t work, Cas. I know you’re having doubts about it. Why do you think so many of your kind stayed true to your Father’s orders and fought back?” he gestured around them, to the towering figures overhead.

“My feelings don’t matter,” Castiel finally replied. “It’s our only chance of survival.”

“And if that means killing everyone else?”

“That’s not my decision to make.”

Dean turned his head and breathed out a sharp frustrated sound.

“Look what that choice means.” Castiel continued, gesturing to the battlefield around them. “Thousands of my bretheren dead because of it. And for what purpose? To delay the inevitable?”

“Delaying?” Dean barked a laugh. “Is that what they told you? Oh, wait, they don’t have to. You just follow any order they give you like a good little soldier.”

Castiel did not respond.

“I really wish I knew how to reach you, Cas.” Dean said, still angry.

After another moment, his shoulders slumped and Dean broke eye contact. He gestured Castiel closer. “C’mere. Let’s get this over with.” Dean sat up straight as Castiel approached him, reached out for his arm.

Curious, Castiel crouched so Dean could drag him closer. Watched in bemusement as Dean grabbed his wrist, positioning the blade over his own heart. “I want you to remember this.” Dean said, hard-eyed. “This all happened because you took from _me_ first.”

Despite his bravado, Dean couldn’t stop the tremor that made his hands shake over Castiel’s steady ones.

“Alright, you son of a bitch,” Dean started, but Castiel didn’t wait.

He buried his blade right into Dean’s heart.

 

 


	2. Hephaestus

Hephaestus Colony, 395 A.E.

#46

The fifteen foot drop came as a surprise.

For a breathless second, Sam instinctually put out his arm as he plummeted, breath frozen in his chest. _Dean’s gonna kill me_ , he thought, and hit the ground.

There was a moment in all sudden injuries where the intense pain gave way to a long second of internal reorientation of _what hurt?_ and _how bad?_  

Sam took a moment to breathe before he tried to get his bearings. He cautiously moved his extremities one by one, trying to sit up. An involuntary sound of pain escaped him when he tried pushing himself off the ground. His arm hurt. A lot.

“Shit.” he whispered to himself.

Clutching his arm to his chest, Sam hauled himself upright and looked up at the ceiling, high above him. A line of dirt cascaded down from the side of the hole he’d left behind, where the ground had given way beneath his feet. No chance of getting back up there without help.

“Hello?” Sam called, not expecting a response.

No one answered him.

While the rest of his classmates had stayed on the marked path, too bored on this field trip to even misbehave, Sam had seen the faded marks of writing on a wall overgrown with vines and had ducked away to explore by himself. A dumb move in hindsight, especially since the tour guides had taken all their comms because of interference issues.

Sam looked around again, cataloguing the architecture around him. This wasn’t a natural cave system or tunnel. Unlike the crumbling organic spires of the ruins aboveground, these smooth curving walls almost looked pristine, curving off in both directions like a long, circular hallway. Although the only light source should’ve been the sunlight pouring through the hole above him, no deep shadows hid the tunnel from view. Everything seemed to be under a dim light, though he didn’t know where it was coming from.

For all he had excitedly pored over the information for this site, Sam remembered no mention of an underground section. The possibility that he had just discovered something new sent a little frission of excitement through him, but then the pain from his arm dampened the feeling.

He would have to get out safely first.

Sam stood up, mindful of his arm. It had progressed from sharp sudden pain to a deep throbbing hurt. He was pretty sure it was broken.

Besides choosing to wait and hope someone would discover the hole he’d made in an off-bounds area, Sam only had one other option. Go forward.

Something, he wasn’t quite sure what, made Sam look down the left passage.

“Hello?” he said again, unnecessarily.

No one answered. Not even an echo of his own voice came back to him.

After a moment’s hesitation, he started walking down the left passageway. The floor was of the same smooth gray material as the curved walls, almost like stone or marble, but his feet did not make a sound.

He stopped and scuffed his shoe against the floor.

When that didn’t work, he tried jumping, though that made his arm throb.

Still no sound.

Curious, Sam reached out and touched the near wall with his good arm as he started walking again. The whole surface felt glassy and smooth to the touch. It all looked and felt like it was made from the same material, with no joins or creases to indicate individual pieces fitted together, just like the ruins that were up above. Sam looked back behind him and watched as the dirt from his fall disappeared around the slight curve of the hallway, and then both directions looked exactly the same.

The wall shuddered under his fingers. Sam pulled away and looked back the way he had come.

He found himself retracing his steps, following the curved hallway back to where he had started. The hole in the ceiling and the dirt on the floor had disappeared. Sam walked a bit further to make sure he hadn’t missed it, but all he saw was the same smooth grey walls and dim lighting, stretching relentlessly in both directions.

Cold fingers of dread crept up his spine.

Sam wordlessly turned back and kept his hands off the wall this time.

After several more minutes of walking, Sam came upon an entrance to what seemed to be another long hallway, on the wall on the inner side of the slight curve. Instead of the interminable curved hallway, this one was straight, like the spoke of a wheel. If that was true, it connected this outer hall with the hub of whatever this place was.

Sam hesitated for a moment before he turned down the straight hallway.

A whisper of sound came from up ahead.

He slowed at the noise but couldn’t stop his progress forward. The end of the hallway crept closer.

Something whispered into his ear.

Sam turned around. The hallway behind him was empty.

“Hello?” he said again.

He didn’t want anyone to answer him this time.

When he reached the end of the hallway, Sam stopped and craned his neck back to look up into the vast chamber it opened into. He’d only fallen maybe two stories down past ground level, but this room seemed to rise a hundred or more feet above him.

Faint whispers drew his attention down. There was an old wooden door in the center of the room, hinged snugly into a thin doorframe, standing by itself.

Slowly, Sam made his way forward, circling it.

The back of the door looked just as normal as the front, despite its placement. He walked back to face the front of the door, eyeing the faint light seeping out from the space between the bottom of the door and the ground, coming from nowhere.

The handle gleamed bronze in the dim light that permeated the chamber.

He had the sudden urge to open it.

Sam shook his head and looked around again, but he found himself stepping closer. The door seemed to loom above him as he did.

Trying not to overthink it, Sam reached out and twisted the handle. It went easily, and he only had to exert the slightest pull for the door to swing open.

The other side of the room stared back at him through the empty doorframe.

Sam closed the door and felt the corner of his mouth twitch up in relief. What had he been expecting?

The light from under the door wasn’t there anymore.

A loud ringing filled his head.

 

_“Sam?”_

_“Sam? Are you okay down there?”_

Blinding light woke him up, and Sam almost passed out again when he tried moving his arm to cover his face.

“Wha-?”

Sam opened his eyes to focused beams of flashlights sweeping over him, illuminating the area he’d fallen down to. A line of dirt cascaded down from the side of the hole he’d left behind earlier as someone moved too close to the edge.

“He’s awake!” one of them said.

“Quick-“

“-rope, does someone have-”

“Here, let me-“

It seemed like he’d fallen into a tunnel, though it was so dark that he couldn’t see anything past the glare of the flashlights. Sam tried to block out the noise from up above, strangely disoriented when he tried to look around. The nearest tunnel wall matched the ruins above, crumbling grey stone laced with creeping roots instead of vines.

He’d probably fallen through a weakened area when he’d gone off the marked trail.

 _Dean’s gonna kill me_ , Sam thought, and felt a strange déjà vu.

 

 

When he finally made it out of the medical center, Dean was waiting for him, arms crossed. He still had his coveralls on, and dark oil streaked his arms and face. Obviously he’d come straight here from his job at the hangar.

Sam hunched his shoulders, mindful of his new cast.

“I’m sorry-“ Sam started when he was close enough, but Dean cut him off to wrap him in a rough hug. “Hey, watch the arm-“

Dean pulled back to give him some room. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

“I know, I just-“ Dean was smiling at him. Sam blinked. “…You’re not mad?”

“No. ‘M just glad you’re safe.” At Sam’s raised eyebrow, Dean pushed at his good side. “You’re a teenager, Sammy. I’m expecting some shenanigans and light mauling, but - be a little more careful, okay?”

Relieved, Sam relaxed his shoulders, though the unspoken _you’re all I have left_ hung above them.

“So…are we still gonna go see the meteor shower tonight?”

Dean heaved a sigh. “I guess. Though, it will take some time to get out of the city. You sure the bum arm is up for it?”

Sam took out a bottle of pills from his pocket and rattled it in answer. Dean looked at it but didn’t comment.

In a richer family, broken bones could be healed within hours, but no one on Hephaestus had that kind of money. Most everyone on the planet was either a poor miner or a poor spaceship worker.

“Alright,” Dean finally said. “C’mon then. We can go rent a flier from my work.”

 

 

By the time they had touched down on the ridge of a distant crater, Sam’s arm had already started aching again, but he tried to ignore it. The air was thin and clear. Without the light pollution from their small city, the stars glittered bright overhead. Already, a few streaks of light had caught Sam’s eye.

The meteor shower was caused by a large debris field that the planet had to pass through every year. Although the first and last week of the month’s long shower was pretty to watch, the frequency and size of the asteroids would get so large that all spaceship travel would be suspended, and the colonists would be advised to stay indoors and underground for the remainder of the shower.  

“Turn on the news for a second, would you?” Dean called, still dragging blankets out of the back of the flier.

Sam’s comm had been retrieved after he’d been pulled from the tunnel, and now he touched the screen and pulled up the broadcast.

“-travel advisory for all spaceships leaving Hephaestus will go into effect later this week. If you have any family or friends on Charis Station, now would be the time to call before the meteor shower interference stops all communication. The meteor shower will start to pick up tomorrow night, so this is the last good night to watch it safely!

"If you are an avid stargazer, you might be interested to know that a comet has been spotted by the arrays on Charis Station. They calculate its trajectory will come close to Hephaestus next week before looping around the sun, giving us quite the light show when it-“

Dean dropped a blanket on his shoulders, distracting Sam from listening to more.

“So will work start to be really busy next week?” Sam asked, turning the news off.

“Yeah, all the ships will want their routine tune ups while they’re grounded. Will you be okay with your arm next week?”

“I’ll be fine.” Sam reassured him, and settled on the hard ground.

”I’m taking you up on that,” Dean grumbled, laying down beside him and looking out over the horizon.

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the meteors streak by overhead.

 


	3. Impact

“I’ll be glad when the meteor shower is over, everyone always gets a little too stir-crazy,” Jess sighed, sitting back in her chair and eating another fry. She had one leg bent, shoe on the seat, and swung the other leg back and forth. “Did you hear that the processing facility just north of here got hit this morning? They’ll be down even after the flight ban is lifted.”

When Sam didn’t reply, Jess purposefully bumped Sam in the shins until he paid attention to her.

“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Jess reassured him.

Sam wasn’t so sure. “You know I don’t like to lie.”

“Which is why I do it instead. C’mon, we both know you’re just worried about Dean finding out if we got caught.”

She knew him well. Sam shrugged and rubbed the arm under the edge of his cast.

It had been less than a week since his fall, and his bones still ached. It had also been the reason for his reluctance to sneak out of school with his girlfriend, when he would’ve jumped at the chance at any other time. They wouldn’t even miss class, but they weren’t allowed to leave the premises when school was in session, let alone go out to get lunch at the nearest fast food joint instead of their school’s dispensary.

They’d gotten suspicious looks from passers-by, but Sam and Jessica were well behaved and just old enough to get by without comment, or a sly glance and telling silence. Less than a year remained before they would have to choose their field of study, and both already knew where they were headed.

“You know this is the kind of juvenile law-breaking Dean wants. Besides, he’s done worse than this and you know it.”

“I know,” Sam sighed. “I was there.”

“So?”

Sam waved his bum arm at her in response. “I don’t want to disappoint him again. Dean wants me to be better than him, have a better life than, well-”

Jess reached over and took his good hand in his. “You’re doing that. The score you got for the placement means you can go into any field you want, regardless of the dumb shit we teenagers do.”

Sam felt a small grin cross his face at the curse. “Thanks, Jess.”

She shrugged and kept hold of his hand.

The comms on their arms lit up red simultaneously.

 

60

 

At the flashing red light, Dean looked up from his place under the shuttle. He usually took off his comm to work but kept it close by just in case, and now it blinked urgently from just out of reach. Careful, Dean scooted out from the opened maintenance panel above him, leaving his tools where they lay.

The hangar siren started blaring just as he grabbed his comm. Big blocky letters scrolled by on the small screen.

PLANET WIDE EVACUATION ORDER IN EFFECT. PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE NEAREST DESIGNATED EVAC POINT –

“Bobby?” Dean yelled, but the siren drowned his voice out. Heart jumping in his throat, Dean left his tools and put his comm around his wrist, speed-walking to the exit. Other mechanics emerged from working on the other shuttles and hulking machinery to do the same. The siren echoed through the large hangar, red lights turning the shapes of the massive mining equipment into unrecognizable giants.

Bobby met them at the doors of the hangar and led them all outside, into the sunlight, away from the noise. Other sirens wailed in the distance. Bobby looked stonier than usual, but Dean knew that meant he was worried and trying not to show it.

“Bobby, what’s going on?” Dean almost yelled, close enough this time for Bobby and the others to hear him. Bobby shook his head but another man pointed at his comm.

They all looked at their own comms as the evacuation order continued to scroll. Everyone on the colony knew that the meteor field the planet passed through each year could eventually give them one big rock that could wipe them off the face of the planet, but so far the mining rewards had outweighed the risks.

-COMET IMPACT IMMINENT IN LESS THAN ONE HOUR. PLEASE BE ADVISED-

“Holy shit-“

“Is this a prank?”

“But the flight ban-“

“I have to go find my kids-“

“QUIET!” Bobby roared over the commotion. He had to yell it again for them to quiet and listen to him. “Who has kids here?”

Most of the mechanics raised their hands. Bobby caught Dean’s eye. _Sam._

“How many of you heard about their exciting day last week during the school evac drill? They‘re not the ones you should be worried about right now-“ Bobby paced back to the entrance of the hangar. “Who here knows how to fly a commercial shuttle? Show of hands.”

A half dozen raised their hands.

“Right.” Bobby pointed to Shane, who hadn’t had his hand raised. “Find out where the nearest evac points are and flag them for us. The rest of you, we need a count of how many working fliers we have.”

When no one moved, Bobby raised his voice and shouted, “GO! Report back here in two minutes, people!”

Everyone sprang into action.

 

30

 

The courtyard the evac shuttles had landed in roiled with panicked people trying to make it into the fliers. A few evac personnel tried to keep the crowd in order, pushing them back so new shuttles could land and trying to prevent a stampede, but they were few and far in between. Sam and Jess had had to navigate ten blocks to get here, slowed down by all the other people doing the exact same thing once the reality of the situation had set in. There was no time to get back to their school evac station.

The more crowded public courtyard was their only way off the planet in time.

They held hands and watched as another shuttle took off, joining two more flying low overhead.

Someone shoved them forward as more people arrived. Sam and Jess were at the very outskirts of the large crowd filling the courtyard and surrounding the shuttles at the center. There weren’t enough shuttles, and it wasn’t going fast enough.

“Jess,” Sam yelled over the sirens, “how long does it take for shuttles to get to space?”

Jess just looked at him, face white, and shook her head.

The crush of people was getting to be too much, jostling them both. Another hard shove and Sam lost his grip on Jess’s hand, other people moving between them.

“Jess!” Sam shouted, trying to push through. He saw her face and then she was gone, lost in the sea of people. “Jess!”

“Sam Winchester?” Someone behind him said, close enough to not have to yell. Sam turned around. A man he’d never seen before stood right next to him in a trench coat, unmoved by the crowd. He looked like an accountant who had just left his office in his suit and tie to flee, like everyone else, but something was off about him.

Sam didn’t care. He turned back around to search for Jess, trying to make his way forward.

A strong hand grabbed his good arm from behind.

“What are you-“ Sam started to say, turning around, but then the world _shifted_.

Overwhelming nausea made him bend over and throw up his lunch. He put out a hand to steady himself, clutching his cast to his chest.

When Sam recovered enough, he straightened and blinked slowly at the metal hull of the shuttle warming under his hand. “What-?”

Before he could finish the thought, the man from before pushed him forwards, and Sam stumbled into the line of people pushing their way up the metal ramp and into the shuttle.

 

20

 

As soon as the last worker was on board, Dean banged on the divider between the pilots cockpit and the loading door. “Everyone’s on board, Bobby! How we doing on time?”

“Last evac point for us!” Bobby shouted back. “Even with our faster ship, we’ll be pushing it for clearing atmosphere if we leave now! Close the door!”

Dean did as ordered and staggered as the flier lurched upwards without waiting for him to strap in.

One of the miners put out a hand to steady him.

“Thanks, man,” Dean said, and moved up to the cockpit, where Bobby and Mark were piloting.

“Any word on Hammond?” Mark asked, voice tight.

Bobby shook his head. “Damn fool went off on his own in that flier looking for his wife.”

“Annie?”

“Already climbing. The city was still packed when they left.”

“Dammit.” Mark muttered, and flicked a few overhead switches before spotting Dean. “Get yourself strapped down, Dean. I’m gonna climb as fast as I can.”

Dean nodded and retreated.

 

10

 

Sam watched the city below shrink beneath him and gradually move out of sight as the shuttle turned, leaving only the rough, cratered surface of the planet to watch disappear as they climbed into the clouds above. As one of the first people on board, he sat in the very back row against the hull, next to one of the only small rounded window in the back of the shuttle that he could look out of if he turned and craned his neck. Sam didn’t know if that was a blessing or a curse, considering they could still see the ground with less than 10 minutes remaining to get clear. They’d lost precious minutes loading as many people as they could fit in the rows of seats, and clearing the ramp of people still desperate to get on the shuttle even when there was no more room left.

Jess hadn’t made it on this shuttle. Sam could only hope she had made it onto one of the others that had been in the courtyard.

Whatever that man had done had disoriented Sam enough that he had not been able to put up any semblance of a fight. Sam had been guided and manhandled into a seat, even buckled down, before he’d regained any of his faculties.

The stranger sat across from him now, knees almost touching his across the thin aisle, hands clasped together and resting between his thighs, not paying Sam any more attention. He looked detached from everything, almost bored, but his eyes kept wandering over to the evac personnel sitting next to the closed ramp. They were tense, alternately checking their comms and staring forward in silence.

Not a good sign.

For the next few minutes, Sam could do nothing but watch the sky outside and nervously check his own comm as the minutes ticked by. If he looked hard enough, he could even spot the distant black dots of a few other fliers climbing below them against the white backdrop of the last layer of clouds.

Sam looked down to check his comm again. Two minutes left. When he glanced up, the stranger had turned his gaze to the window.

“Close your eyes, Sam,” he said, not even looking his way.

Before Sam could turn back to the window, a harsh white light bleached the inside of the shuttle, so bright he reflexively closed his eyes until it had passed.

When he could open his eyes again, Sam swiveled in his seat.

At first, all he could see was the distant white tail of the comet that had passed through the cloud layer on the horizon, but then the horizon started to _rise_.

He didn’t understand what he was seeing until it expanded, and the debris and fire of the explosion broke through the rising clouds.

It was almost too impossible to believe this was even happening. Sam could only watch as the fireball ate up most of the horizon, sending dark plumes of earth into the upper atmosphere. The clouds rose towards them as they folded upwards from the shockwave. People were shouting in alarm all around him now, but he couldn’t look away.

It took a full minute for the shockwave to reach them, and Sam watched its approach as it knocked the other lower shuttles over like playthings.

An overhead alarm went off, a computerized voice crackling to life.

“ALL PASSENGERS, PLEASE PREPARE FOR IMPACT. ALL PASSENGERS, PLEASE PREPARE-“

The shockwave hit, throwing everyone to the side, only held in their seats by their harnesses. People started to scream, but Sam could only clutch at his harness for dear life. For a sickening minute, the shuttle rolled like a festival ride before going into freefall.

Not even when he had fallen down that hole in the ground had Sam felt deathly afraid before.

Now, there was no thought in his head but for the desire to survive this.

It felt like an eternity before the shuttle righted itself as the pilots took them out of their spin, managing to stop the freefall and continue their ascent.

Once they had stabilized, Sam looked out the window again. The wall of debris and fire seemed to crawl towards them, misleadingly slow compared to its size. The shuttle had lost precious altitude in their freefall, and it loomed beside them, expanding ever outwards in its destruction.

They weren’t going to make it.

Shaking with panic, Sam faced forward again. A few people were sobbing, but most were silent, waiting for the inevitable to happen. The strange man was frowning in concentration, eyes closed, but as Sam watched, the man opened his eyes.

They were glowing white, almost as bright as the explosion.

The shuttle rocked again, but this time everyone was pressed down into their seats as the shuttle shot upwards, faster than before.

Sam made himself look out the window again, made himself watch as the other shuttles were engulfed in the blast.

The blast hit, throwing them sharply to the side again, but this time they still held course, moving upwards at an incredible speed until they cleared the explosion, suddenly above it.

Sam turned his attention from the window to the stranger, only to find him passed out in his seat, held upright by his harnesses, blood dripping from his nose.

 

It took them almost a full day to get to Charis Station with the shuttle’s AGF, and the strange man sitting across from Sam remained catatonic for the whole trip. When they finally started to disembark into the hangars of Charis station, Sam held back and watched as the medics came to pry the man out of his seat and take him away in a stretcher, leaving behind a chair dark with dried blood.


	4. Charis Station

It had been more than a day since the refugees had all arrived on Charis station, and Sam had yet to find Dean, or even contact him in any way. He hadn’t been able to sleep with the creeping dread that hung over so many of the other shell-shocked colonists.

Just the possibility that Dean had- that Jess had-

Sam shifted and checked his comm again, only to be greeted with another error message when he tried to connect to the station’s network. He’d tried to contact Dean immediately, but communication lines had been filled with thousands of other refugees trying to find their own families and loved ones, crashing the system multiple times throughout the station.

To say Charis station had been unprepared to deal with the massive numbers of refugees was an understatement. No one on the station had even known an evacuation order had been issued until the evacuees were already on their way, due to the interference caused by the meteor field Hephaestus was still passing through.

Too agitated and restless to wait in the makeshift barracks the station had set up in the ship hangars, Sam got to his feet. He weaved his way through the crowded floor, making his way to the entrance to the station proper. There were a few guards there overseeing traffic, trying to keep most of the new arrivals contained to the hangars.

Two men in the dark blue uniforms of station security stopped him as he approached.

“Sorry kid, we’re not letting anyone through here that hasn’t been verified yet. You’ll just have to stay put for now.”

Sam turned on his best pleading expression. “I know, but my arm-“ he raised the arm still in the cast, “I broke it yesterday, and my pain pills are - were-“ Sam stopped talking and ducked his head, letting them come to the obvious conclusion.

The two guards shifted uncomfortably.

“Can someone please take me to the med bay?” he really didn’t have to pretend to sound miserable.

“What about the medical staff that have a station here?” one guard asked the other.

“Went home for the night. Won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

After a moment of silence, the first guard said, “Jesus. Okay look, kid, we can’t leave our posts but I can let you through and show you where to go.”

With a little bit of finagling, they managed to sync their comms so the guard – Cal, he’d told him – could transfer him a layout of the station and highlight the path to the med bay.

“No detours, okay?”

Sam nodded. “Of course, thank you.”

 

He took a detour.

“Sorry, Cal,” Sam muttered to himself. With the helpfully provided map to guide him, Sam had no problems finding and searching the rest of the stations ship hangars for Dean. Sam knew that’s where he’d be. He didn’t remember ever being on Charis Station, but they had both been born here, and Dean remembered travelling to Charis when their mom was still alive and piloting the Impala.

Of course.

The Impala had passed hands to Ellen, a dear friend of his mom but she’d had no patience for John. They’d lost touch a long time ago, but as far as he knew, the Impala had never been renamed.

He spent the first hour scouring the hangars for the name, but Charis Station was huge, and Sam spent a lot of time avoiding people who looked like they’d stop him.

On his way from hangar to hangar, a large crowd in a smaller hallway had him slowing and looking up to follow their gaze. A large screen dominated the wall, and the sight left him cold.

A grainy video of Hephaestus, blackened and burning red even from space.

“Turn the volume up!” someone shouted, and then even Sam could hear it from the back of the crowd.

“-emergency personnel that volunteered to brave the meteor field report that it was too dangerous to brave a landing. They predict there will be no survivors on the surface.

“The comet that was supposed to pass close by Hephaestus with no trouble seems to have changed trajectory at the last minute to collide with the planet. There is currently no seemingly plausible explanation as to how the comet managed to do so, but most believe It has something to do with the large AGF field now emanating from Hephaestus. The leading theory is that this was a planned attack, to cut off production of the crucial AGF material to produce-“

Shocked murmurs spread through the crowd.

There hadn’t been such a huge disaster like this since the Cirranus Incident, and so far that had been the only friction felt between the other couple of space-faring species and humanity. Many wanted to keep it that way.

Sam skirted the crowd and turned away from the screen, thinking of the man in trenchcoat.

 

He found Dean before he found the Impala, sitting next to the entrance ramp of an older ship at the far end of the net hangar with two other people.

“Dean!” Sam shouted, and Dean’s head shot up.

When he saw Sam, Dean scrambled to his feet. “Sam?”

They both almost ran towards the other, colliding together in a hug that almost knocked Sam clean off his feet.

“Sam, thank god you’re alive, jesus-“

Immediately, Sam felt himself tear up. He let out a shaky breath and after a long moment pulled back. “Dean-“

Dean still had him by the shoulders and shook him a little bit. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Weren’t you on the school evac flier?” Sam finally noticed that Dean looked just as haggard as he probably looked, dark smudges under his eyes and hair in disarray.

“No I wasn’t, Jess and I-“ Sam’s throat closed up.

Before he could try to talk again, an older woman with long blonde hair came over from where Dean had been sitting. “Dean, is this Sam?”

Dean finally let Sam go and moved back. “Yeah, he found us. Do you have room for one more, Ellen?”

“Of course I do,” the woman said, and looked at Sam. “Hi there, Sam, I’m Ellen Harvelle. Friend of your mom’s from a long time ago?”

Sam cleared his throat, grateful for the distraction. “Yeah, I remember Dean telling me about you.”

They went to shake hands before Ellen finally just gave that up and went in for a hug.

“I’m glad you’re both okay,” she said when she pulled back. Ellen’s comm beeped and she paused to look at it. “Looks like we finally got a scheduled take-off time in a few hours. This station is too overcrowded to function for much longer, so I’m thinking we’re going to go through the Gate since I have some friends on Nadai that can help us out.” She looked at Sam and Dean. “With Bobby and both of you, we have one more bunk we can fill, so if you two have anyone else that you know here that needs the ride, I’ll be open to it.”

Dean shook his head. “No, there’s no one else I know here.”

He turned to Sam, but when he didn’t answer, Dean nudged him. “What?”

“There’s someone in the med bay that I-“

“Who, Jess?”

Sam shook his head, “No, I don’t think Jess-“ Sam changed gears, “there was a man on the evac shuttle that they took to the med bay.”

Dean’s eyebrows lowered in confusion. “A stranger?”

“I wasn’t going to make it onto a shuttle in time, but he grabbed me and got me on.” Sam wasn’t going to mention what he could only think of as teleportation, or the other inexplicable things that had happened on that flight.

That he’d known Sam’s name.

He had a sneaking suspicion that everyone on that shuttle would’ve died if it hadn’t been for that stranger.

Dean still looked confused. “You want to try and find him? We only have a few hours before we have to leave. Are you sure?”

“I think he saved me, Dean,” Sam said, and that seemed to be enough for Dean.

“Okay, if you want.”

Ellen looked between the two of them. "Do what you want, but be sure to make it back in time. We can't afford to miss this take-off."

 

Sam still had the map of Charis station on his comm, and they made their way to the med bay with no problems. Dean had stopped them once to watch the same repeating news segment Sam had seen, and after that they walked in silence until they arrived at their destination.

The med bay was packed, and it took them almost twenty minutes to even get to talk to the receptionist. She wasn’t very impressed with Sam’s scant description and inability to give her a name, though she did agree to help once he told her the man didn’t have a comm. It was unusual enough to remember.

“If he was an evacuee and unresponsive when we brought him in, he’ll likely be in one of the makeshift cots we’ve had to set up under the name John Doe. Let me check.” They waited as she searched the med bays database, finally pulling a file onto her own comm. She looked up after another second. “There was an unidentified male that was brought in yesterday directly from the shuttles. No ID or comm on him. Here, I’ll give you his bed number.”

They were given guest access and she waved them through the first door. Like all medical centers, this one was a maze of confusing and long hallways, so packed full of people that they’d started putting hospital cots out in the hallways when they’d run out of rooms.

Sam almost didn’t recognize the man without the trenchcoat when they passed by his cot.

He grabbed Dean’s arm to bring him to a stop. “There he is.”

The man looked to be sleeping, still form unmoving under a white hospital blanket and hooked up to a monitor and an IV.

He looked different somehow, much more pale and smaller than Sam remembered him being.

A nurse a few beds down saw them stop and made her way over to them. “Excuse me, can I help you two?” When she saw who they had stopped in front of, her eyes sharpened. “Do you know this man?”

“Sort of,” Sam hedged. “Is he okay?”

The nurse went to the foot of the bed and scanned the tag under the bed number. She read the file that appeared on her comm, and when she looked up apologetically, Sam knew it was nothing good.

“I’m sorry,” she started, “but he was brought in with massive internal bleeding and major brain damage. We stabilized him, but I’m afraid he’s lost all higher brain functions.”

“What…what does that mean?” Sam asked, still looking between her and the stranger.

“Brain dead?” Dean guessed, and the nurse nodded.

“So do you know this man’s name, then?” the nurse asked, but Sam had to shake his head.

“No, I met him on the evac shuttle. What will happen for him now?”

The nurse sighed and crossed her arms. “Even though this kind of brain damage is irreversible, we’ll keep him stable until we ID him and contact his closest relatives, which might never happen if they were-“ the nurse finally realized she was talking to other colonists, “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”

Sam shrugged, but the nurse kept staring at him, a frown appearing on her face. “What?” he said.

“I could’ve sworn-“ the nurse started, “Are you sure you don’t know this man?”

“Yes? Why do you ask?”

The nurse turned and grabbed a cloth bag resting at the foot of the cot. “These were the only personal effects he had on him. Recognize this?” She held up an old transparent photo display, and when the screen flickered to life, Sam’s face smiled back at them.

A cold flash went through him at the sight.

“What the hell?” Dean said, alarmed.

Sam had turned to watch the stranger again, and saw his fingers twitch slightly, something he would’ve missed if he hadn’t been staring. “He’s moving.”

“Sam, he’s brain dead.” Dean said, still fixated on the photo.

The man’s fingers twitched again.

“Dean, seriously, look,” Sam said, and took the strangers hand in his, lifting it off the bed.

“Sam, don’t touch him,” Dean told him, reaching over.

As soon as he touched their hands to pull the two apart, the monitors to the side started blaring.

They all turned to look at the monitor, but then the stranger gasped for breath and writhed in the bed.

“What the f-“ the nurse started, dropping the photo display and scrambling to keep the man from falling out of the small cot.

Sam and Dean backed up, but the stranger had managed to grab onto Dean’s hand. He opened his eyes and unerringly looked at Dean.

“Let go of me!” Dean yelped, tugging at his hand.

“Dean-“ the man said, weakly.

Dean finally snatched his hand back and two other staff members crowded them out, drawn by the sound of the blaring monitors.

The three nurses ignored the two of them as they wheeled the cot down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

After a second of stunned silence, Dean picked up the photo display, screen now cracked down the middle, and looked down the hall where they’d gone.


	5. The Impala

Sam followed Dean as he stormed out of the med bay, cracked photo display still in hand. The nurses had blocked him from entering the intensive care unit when he’d followed them, demanding answers, so he was doing the next best thing. Leaving this weird shit behind him.

They only had an hour left until the Impala was scheduled to take off, and after that Dean didn’t have to worry about the injured stranger and his pictures of Sam.

“Dean-“ Sam said, but Dean cut him off.

“Leave it, Sammy. Let’s worry about ourselves first, okay?”

Sam looked back towards the med bay a few times after that, but he kept his head down and didn’t argue further.

They both tried to ignore the monitors showing the blackened remains of Hephaestus as they continued on.

Supplies were low, but they managed to buy some essentials with the credits Dean had on his comm. A few changes of clothes and the small travel-sized hygiene products were all they could remember to get, avoiding the pitying human interactions with self-checkouts, and then they were rushing back to the Impala, squeezing through the crowds to get back in time.

The Impala only had two entrances, one large for cargo, which was already sealed shut in preparation for take-off, and the side air-lock entrance for normal traffic. Sam and Dean rushed up the ramp to the opened air-lock, past the lockers of suits and protective gear, into the narrow hallway up to the cockpit.

“We’re back-“ Dean started, brought up short by the sight of several people he didn’t know talking to Ellen and Jo. They’d all stopped when Dean had rushed in, Sam almost barreling into his back. “Um.”

“Dean,” Ellen greeted, “Come in and meet the crew.”

One by one Ellen singled out each crew member to be introduced. “The bean pole over there-“ she pointed to a lean man with long hair and cut-off sleeves, “is Ash. He’s our physician.” Ash waved at them.

“Pam is our navigator and AGF expert,” a dark haired woman with white eyes nodded in their direction, “Joshua is our life support officer,” a man with skin the color of bark came forward and shook their hands, “and Benny here is our main engineer.” A man a little older than Dean came forward as well and shook their hands after Joshua.

“Nice to meet’cha,” Benny drawled, smiling. Dean only mumbled something in response, still trying to take it all in.

“Dean was a mechanic back on Hephaestus,” Jo piped up from her seat in the co-pilots chair. “I’m sure he can help you out to earn his keep.”

Benny looked between the two of them. “Well, it’s good to know I’m not the only one with smart hands on this ship.”

Dean shrugged a shoulder, not knowing what to say.

Ellen glanced around the room again, hands on hips. “And we are missing- oh! Rufus is down in the cargo hold catching up with Bobby, so you’ll meet him later. Right. Well, looks like everything is as ready as it’s gonna get to make it out of here in one piece, so everyone-“ she motioned everyone to the door. “Back to work. Take-off is coming up shortly.” When everyone made for the door, Ellen gestured Dean and Sam forward.

“You two can stay and watch if you want. Benny can show you the AGF when it’s ready to turn heavy, too. I’ll have you go see Ash and set you up with a bunk afterwards, but until then Jo and I will be busy piloting out, so feel free to do whatever.”

Dean looked back at Sam.

“I want to stay and watch,” Sam said, wide-eyed.

That settled it. They stowed their meagre things in one of the lockers in the entryway and went back to the cockpit.

It took another ten minutes to get permission to move the Impala into the air-lock, jockeying for a position, and waiting as the large hall was depressurized and the ships were allowed to take off one by one.

Dean grabbed one of the zero-G handles and watched as Ellen and Jo piloted the ship out of the hangar. From his place behind them, he could see the empty void of space fill up the thick window until he had to look away. He’d miss having a planet beneath his feet, or even a goddamn station. Even though Dean knew how to fix fliers, he hated how fragile they were in space.

Sam was still standing slack-jawed in the middle of the cockpit, not holding on to anything.

Grinning, Dean didn’t say anything as they gradually left the AGF of Charis Station until it was too late for Sam to do anything about it. _Newbie._

Sam didn’t notice until their feet left the floor as they all found themselves suspended in zero-G. Ellen and Jo were harnessed in and barely batted an eye, but Dean felt his stomach give a brief lurch as he oriented himself.

“Benny, how are we doing?” Ellen asked, thumbing the console in front of her.

The comm crackled to life. “Everything’s lookin’ fine down here.” Benny replied. “AGF running good and light. Just tell me when we’re clear and up to speed enough to turn the AGF heavy. I’ll be ready.”

“Everyone else? Rufus?”

“Cargo is nice and secure,” Rufus called in. “Resupplying was a bitch and a half with the refugee crisis, so we probably don’t have enough food supplies for all the new people on board. Joshua, what do you think?”

“Oxygen and water recycling has been adjusted for the new crew additions,” Joshua’s gentle tone came through next, “but Rufus is correct in saying we didn’t get enough in the way of food supplies. We’ll do fine if we supplement with our plants and algae mass.”

Groans went through the line.

“Not the algae again,” Rufus complained.

“You’re welcome to starve instead, if you’d like.”

Ellen cut them both off, “Keep it down you two. Pam?”

“Course is looking good. No current debris in our trajectory. We should reach the Gate in a couple weeks no problem. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Thank you, Pam.” Ellen said. Jo was on main, so Ellen turned away from the window and looked back at them. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Sam, and turned to Dean.

“You didn’t tell him?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Dean asked, and watched Sam look between the two of them, brow furrowed.

“What?”

Dean tried to contain himself. “I’ll tell you if you come over here, Sammy.”

For a moment, Sam narrowed his eyes, suspecting something but not figuring it out just yet. “Okay?” When he tried to move, realization of the fact he had no purchase on anything spread across his face. Sam flailed in midair like a fish out of water.

Dean burst out laughing, but after a few moments he remembered himself, smile slipping off his face.

 

It took them almost the whole day to get up to speed and far enough away from the gravity of the gas giant Yara that Charis Station orbited for them to turn the AGF heavy. Sam had found his space legs in that time, and Dean led him down to the engine room to show him the process. Sam had still been small when their Mom had died and they’d had to give the Impala up, but Dean still remembered the life.

Benny was waiting for them. “Ready to see it?”

Sam nodded enthusiastically, and Benny pointed down to the floor. A dark window sat in the middle of the metal grating on the floor.

“I thought that was the floor? Is that a wall?” Sam asked faintly, and Benny smiled.

“There aren’t any walls or floors in zero-G, but that’s a floor when we have gravity. The AGF metal‘s behind that window, so the gravity field it produces always points down to it. I’d advise you to turn with your feet towards it now though.”

“I know what it does,” Sam replied, huffy, as both him and Dean did as Benny asked. “We just never got to see one in person on planet.”

Benny just made a sound of agreement as he floated his way over to a side console. When he reached it, he hit a few buttons displayed on the touchscreen and gestured to the dark window. “Alright, watch it now.”

At first, the window stayed black, but in a few moments streaks of multicolored lights slowly brightened behind the window. Single strands darted by like silvery fish, but gradually the numbers increased until the whole surface glowed a pearlescent, multicolored white.

The room seemed to tilt on its axis as they were all pulled down to the floor from the artificial gravity, Dean getting a little nauseous again as his brain righted itself. They moved to stand at the edge of the window to look down into the sheet of AGF metal shimmering down below.

“The energy we can capture from this thing when it’s heavy is slightly disproportionate to the electricity we use to generate it. It’s what powers the whole ship when we’re in flight, and where we get the energy to get up to speed when we go light. No one still really understands why, and Pam’s usually the one that troubleshoots anything that goes wrong with this, so,” Benny shrugged. “Usually it’s too bright to look at, but the safety glass prevents all radiation and blocks most of the light it lets off,” he told them. “Pretty, ain’t it?”

Dean glanced over to see Sam’s face and did a double take.

Sam was glaring down into the light of the AGF, brows lowered and jaw clenched.

“Sam? You okay?” Dean asked, and Sam looked up, expression gone like it had never been there.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Now that he wasn’t looking down into the AGF light, Sam’s face was calm and open again.

“Not still mad about the whole newbie spacer thing, are you?”

“No!” The embarrassed outrage was enough for Dean to drop it. Must’ve just been his imagination.

 

They stopped by Ash’s medical station next, each roped into a physical and a round of booster shots. Afterwards, Dean rubbed at his shoulder and furtively ate the hard candy Ash had given him as he watched Ash examine Sam’s cast.

After a quick look, Ash went back to the X-ray he’d taken, frowning thoughtfully at the screen. “You say you broke it? And didn’t do the regrowth option? I don’t see any fracture lines.”

“Yes?” Sam said, picking at the cast. “Hard to forget something like that.”

“Hmm.” Ash said, then  shrugged. “Okay, well, wither way you don’t need that cast anymore. Let’s take that thing off now, how’s that sound?”

Sam nodded, perking up from the moodiness after his own shots.

As Ash took off the cast, Jo poked her head into the examination room. “Hey guys. Ash, are you almost done? I’m supposed to assign them their own bunks.”

Ash took another moment to reply, finally taking the cast away from Sam’s arm and sitting back. “All yours, Jo.” He fingergunned at her.

 

Jo took them through the middle of the ship, talking the whole way. She had taken them first to retrieve their stuff from the lockers in the receiving room, and now she led them down the narrow hallway that lead to the separate small bunk rooms, five on each side, and one master room for the pilot on the far wall where the hallway split into a T. Dean’s parents and him had all lived in that master room when his Mom had been alive. He supposed it was only Ellen’s now since her husband had passed away.

“-You two are getting two of the smallest rooms.” Jo was saying, opening up one of the doors to reveal what could only be described as the smallest dorm room he’d ever seen in his life. Dean definitely remembered these being bigger as a kid. “There are two shared bathrooms down there-“ she pointed down the hall, “with toilets and showers. You two are the lowest on the totem pole so you’re probably gonna be cleaning them. Just keep that in mind.”

Dean let Sam take this one, and Jo opened the next door down the hall. “And here’s yours. The exact same.” And it was. There was a lumpy looking mattress with sheets held down with restraining straps on top of it for use in zero-G, and a built in desk with a touchscreen and wardrobe on the opposite side of the tiny room. Dean wandered in and put his things down on the bed.

Jo was still leaning in the doorway. She crossed and uncrossed her arms a few times. “Listen,” Jo said,  face softening just a bit. “I lost friends on Hephaestus too, so if you wanna talk. At any time. I’m-y’know.”

“Thanks, Jo.” Dean had to reply, but he couldn’t look up at her, “but…”

“I get it.” Jo said, awkwardly. “Uh, just gonna get Sam situated, but if you need anything, just use your comm to call me.” Dean watched her leave out of the corner of his eye and then turned back to unpacking what little he had. He’d probably need to ask around for things he forgot, or if he ran out of clothes depending on if he was helping in engineering.

Dean drew out the small photo display from his pocket. It flickered to life when he switched it on again, screen cracked down the middle. He swiped through all the pictures, cold fingers running up his spine. They were almost all of Sam, smiling and happy on Hephaestus. Dean had all these pictures on his own comm, and it freaked him out to find them on a stranger.

He was glad they’d left whoever that had been behind.

Debating for a minute, Dean finally put the photo display on his desk and tilted it just so. It was his now.

 

Tired but feeling too jittery to try falling asleep, Dean made his way out of his room. He hesitated in front of Sam’s room, hand up to knock, but then Dean shook his head and dropped it. Instead, Dean headed to the cargo hold where Bobby and Rufus had been catching up last. The cargo hold was filled with large metal containers cinched down to the floor, stacked high enough that he couldn’t see over them. Dean wandered through the labyrinthine maze, heading for the back corner.

He found Bobby and Rufus reclining in two folding chairs in the alcove at the back, and the man he assumed to be Rufus hid a metal flask from sight when they saw him. Dean tried not to roll his eyes.

“I thought I heard someone back there.” Rufus said, and leaned back again.

“Dean, what are you doing up so late?” Bobby asked, and Dean shrugged in response.

“Couldn’t sleep. What about you, old man? Thought it was past your bedtime.”

“Hahaha hilarious,” Bobby muttered.

The clang of a metal pipe hitting the ground sounded from behind one of the boxes, and they all looked in that direction.

“Who came down with you?” Bobby asked, but Dean shook his head.

“No one. I came by myself.”

“You-“ Rufus was out of his chair by that point. “Hold on.” He moved towards where the sound had originated from, disappearing behind the cargo.

There were a few silent seconds before Rufus shouted. “The hell-“

Bobby and Dean scrambled to follow him, rounding the corner to see Rufus standing in front of another man in a trenchcoat, leaning heavily against the nearest metal container. His eyes were bloodshot, and a trail of blood streaked down over his lip.

Dean recognized him immediately.

 

 


	6. Stowaway

Dean barreled forward, but Rufus blocked him with an arm and held him back. “You!“ Dean started, accusing.

Bobby and Rufus kept Dean behind them as the stranger collapsed against the side of a cargo crate and slid down to sit on the floor.

“How the hell did he get on board?“ Bobby asked, but Rufus shook his head and tapped his comm, warily keeping the stranger in view.

The deep claxon of an alarm sounded from overhead.

A few seconds later, Ellen’s voice came over their comms, still thick with sleep. “Rufus? What’s going on?”

Rufus raised his comm, “Ellen, get down to the cargo bay. We have a situation down here.”

“Situation?” Ellen parroted, sharper. “Could you be a little more specific?”

“We have a stowaway.”

“A stow-?” she paused, incredulous. “Dammit. Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.”

All the other passengers would’ve been woken up in time to hear their open channel, so it was no surprise when everyone followed close behind Ellen as she strode into the cargo bay, looking for the problem that had dragged her out of bed. They were all in their pajamas, hair disheveled, but the urgency of the situation had put a definite pep in their step. 

Bobby and Rufus had kept their distance from the stranger, wary even though he looked weak as a kitten, disoriented and blinking slow. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he was still sitting on the floor, only propped upright by the crate he was leaning against. It didn’t seem like he was aware enough to notice their presence.

Ellen took one look at the stowaway and gestured Ash forward.

“Rufus, didn’t you check and secure everything before take-off?” she asked, terse.

“Of course I did! I always do my check and scan twice before zero-G. I can tell you, he wasn’t in the cargo bay when we took off.”

Ash had made his way over as Rufus talked, crouching down in front of the stranger. A pair of gloves and a handheld medical device were pulled from the emergency pack he’d brought with him. “Hey there, man. You with me?” he asked, shining a light across the man’s eyes.

A puzzled look crossed the man’s face after a few more seconds of prodding, like he’d only just noticed. “Hello?”

As though suddenly realizing their audience, Ellen waved them away. “Everyone but Rufus and Ash, back to your bunks. Meeting in the mess hall in thirty.”

When Dean didn’t move when the others did, reluctant and slow, Ellen pinned him with a look. “You too, Dean.”

“Ellen, he’s-“ Dean startled at a touch to his arm. When he looked back, Sam was staring at the stranger, face frozen, tugging at Dean’s sleeve.

“-I know.” Dean muttered under his breath.

“How did he get on board?” Sam asked, voice high with concern, but Ellen pointed to the doorway.

“Out!”

 

Dean could smell the coffee brewing as he made his way down the hall, the metal grating beneath his feet clanging enough for everyone to hear his approach. Sam followed behind, quiet as a ghost.

All the rest of the crew were there, already changed out of their sleep clothes. They looked up when Dean walked in, expectant, but lost interest when they didn’t see Ellen. Jo stifled a yawn and waved Dean and Sam in.

The crew was all sitting at the long metal table bolted to the floor in the middle of the room, but Dean passed it by for the more important side counters where the coffee was located. The dispensers here were discolored from age and use, but they still worked well. A handmade sign had been tacked onto the wall behind the counter. _Don’t forget to switch modes on the dispensers during zero-G, asshats!_

“A stowaway? Is this a common occurrence in the space trading industry?” Dean asked, turning around to lean against the counter once he had his cup filled. Sam stayed next to him.

The rest of the crew shifted in their seats.

It took Jo a moment to speak. “No, definitely not. Scan tech’s getting too good for that nowadays.”

“There’s no way Rufus didn’t do his scans, right?” Pam interrupted, leaning forward over her coffee, but Benny shook his head.

“No, no way. I saw him makin’ his rounds before we took off. If Rufus says he wasn’t in the cargo bay when we took off, I believe him.”

“Then where could he have hidden? In the green room? A bathroom? In his shape, he couldn’t have gotten far.”

Benny shrugged.

Dean could feel Sam pause beside him, but he didn’t say anything. Before he could really think about it, he heard the clattering of the metal floor panels from the hall.

It was the only warning they got before Ellen made her way into the mess hall, hair pulled into a messy bun. She headed straight for Dean, and after a moment of panic he realized and moved out of her warpath for caffeine.

They all gave her a few long moments before their burning curiosity got the best of them.

“Well?” Pam finally asked, “What’s the news?”

Ellen looked them all over. “Not much to tell so far. Our stow-away isn’t very coherent at the moment. Ash says he’s lucky to be alive.” She pinned Dean and Sam with a direct stare. “Though he seems to know the two of you. The only thing we can make out from his gibberish is your name, Dean.”

Dammit. Dean could perfectly envision the cracked picture of him and Sam still sitting on the desk in his room.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you before, Ellen. Sam only got off the planet because of that same guy, and he was in the med bay on Charis when we left. I don’t know how he got on board, but it’s definitely not a coincidence.”

“You’re sure?”

“He had a picture of us, Ellen. Before yesterday, I’d never seen him before in my life.”

When Ellen looked at Sam, Sam nodded in confirmation.  

“In that case, I really wish I could just space him. Joshua, will we be able to make it with another person on board?”

There was a minute as Joshua did some calculations on his comm. “It will be close, but…we’ll be able to make it if we ration.”

Groans again sounded around the table.

Ellen pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, you heard the man. We can question him all we like, but if he doesn’t pose a physical threat and we have the ability to make it to our next point, we have to let the authorities deal with him.”

“That’s weeks away!” Jo said, gesturing sharply. “What the hell will we be doing with him until then?”

“He’s not going anywhere right now, but once he gets back on his feet we’ll obviously have to have someone watching him at all times.” Ellen stopped for a brief moment. “If he doesn’t make a wrong move further down the line, well, there’s always compulsory manual labor. Joshua?”

“I can take him when he gets better. I’ll need the help.”

“Thank you. Any other concerns?” Ellen looked around the room as everyone shook their heads, sinking into their seats. Her eyes finally settled on Sam and Dean. “What about you two? You’re the only ones that’ve seen this guy before. Thoughts?”

“Just keep him as far away from us as possible. I don’t want him around Sam.” Dean answered, and Ellen nodded.

“I’ll try. We can keep you two on a different shift, maybe have Sam help Pamela with navigation in the cockpit. Sound good?”

They both nodded.

“Alright, try to get some shut-eye everyone.  I’ll see you all in a few hours for breakfast.”

 

The next few days flew by in a flurry of activity. Although Dean was used to ground maintenance for spacers, in-flight work was just different enough that he couldn’t do anything but the most basic things by himself. He had to follow Benny like a shadow, absorbing all he could tell him. Systems couldn’t be shut off all the way, just rerouted in some cases, so all the work had safety requirements that he’d never learned before. Dean broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about the outside hull work they might have to do, with nothing but some fancy fabric in between him and certain death. Luckily, Benny had assured him no outside maintenance would be needed for some time, and he wouldn't need help outside unless it was an emergency. 

There was a lot of work to be done. As a kid, the Impala had seemed cavernous, and now as an adult it was still larger than he’d been expecting, which meant there was much more volume to be maintained. The work would drop off soon enough, until they’d need to fire up the engines again to slow them down for the Gate, but for now Dean could lose himself in work hard enough to make him collapse into his bunk at the end of a shift with no energy left over for thought.

Sam was more withdrawn than usual when they saw one another, but Dean couldn’t find it in him to try to talk to him just yet. The shaky video of the blackened shell Hephaestus had become flashed through his mind every time Sam went silent. It was no wonder. Maybe Ash would have some pointers on-

From where Dean was crouched in front of an opened maintenance panel, movement out of the corner of his eye made him glance over, only to do a double-take.

Ellen and Joshua walked by, the stranger between them. They each had a hand on the arm closest to them, propelling him forward. The stranger looked at him as they walked by, but as soon as they made eye contact, Dean jerked his head back down and ignored the procession as it passed behind him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Sam stumbled back into the line of people boarding the shuttle as the stranger pushed him, still reeling and disoriented. The metal ramp threw off his balance even more as he was drawn into the flier from the flow of people trying to make it in. For a second, there was a break in the crush of people, large enough for Sam to make a break for the door. A few dozen feet away, Jess was trying to make her way up the ramp.

“Jess!” Sam cried over the chaos, and Jess spotted him in the crowd.

“Sam!”

The stranger in the trenchcoat yanked him back and hit the door controls. The side doors closed with a squeal, fast enough that only a couple of the closest people squeezed in before it slid shut. Jess didn’t make it.

“No! Jess!" He could see her on the other side of the door through the thick reinforced window. Jess was mouthing something at him, but he couldn't make it out. "Open the door!” Sam yelled at the stranger, still by the door controls. When he didn’t move in response, Sam tried to reach past him, only to be blocked. “You bastard! The door! Let me-“

A bright flash made him freeze and turn to the door again. Jess pounded a fist against the window, screaming soundlessly. Behind her, the sky was darkening, bright red fire racing towards them against a background of black.

“JESS!”

She turned right before the wall of fire hit them and disintegrated from the force of the blast.

 

Sam bolted upwards in his bed, gasping for breath.

After a minute, he put his arms around his knees and stared at the opposite wall, listening to the never-ending hum of the Impala.


	7. The Spacewalk

It took a certain kind of person to thrive in deep space, especially in a smaller craft like the Impala. Long voyages in cramped spaces could lead to boredom and short tempers in most everyone, but Dean could only watch in awe as the crew of the Impala lived and worked together like a well-oiled machine. There were personality tests that matched applicants with a crew that would be the best fit, but in an emergency situation like Hephaestus, the risks were usually taken to waive them all.

Dean was not one for deep space.

He needed fresh air, and solid ground under his feet. Most importantly, he needed to not feel like he was one hull breach from the worst kind of death he could imagine.

It had gotten to the point were Dean had given in and started taking trips to the green room, despite the chance he might run into the stranger – Castiel. Ellen had said he’d refused to answer all but a handful of questions, like what his name was, and if he really was the one that had saved Sam, and that he had been injured in the takeoff. Ash had done his workup and only shook his head when Dean had pumped him for info.

Other things Castiel remained silent on, like how he’d gotten on board, and why he’d had a picture display of Sam and Dean.

Dean rubbed his head with the back of his hand in frustration, careful not to get grease on his face. He’d finally finished closing up the work panel and now had two options; go back to his bunk, or try to relax in the green room, as close to nature as he could get out here.

It didn’t help that every time he went back to his room, the cracked photo display sat and taunted him from its place on the desk.

Mind made up, Dean wiped his hands and grabbed his stuff, stowing it away in their secured locker before cautiously walking down the hallway, following the signs to hydroponics.

At first, when Dean passed through the entryway, all he could focus on was the green around him, and the relaxing smell of growing things. Plants of all kinds lined the walls and were suspended in tiered platforms throughout the space. The huge algae vats were in the back, hidden from sight.

Movement further in had Dean stilling in place, and he watched as Castiel stood up from a crouch, concentrating so hard on threading tubing around a grow bed that he hadn’t noticed Dean yet. His trenchcoat was nowhere in sight, instead, Castiel wore an old worn t-shirt, grey with age, and a pair of black pants he must’ve gotten second hand from Joshua.

Unexpected anger bubbled in Dean’s gut. Couldn’t he just get a break from seeing him around everywhere?

As soon as the tubing was in place, Castiel straightened up and checked the plants in the grow bed, absentmindedly rubbing a leaf between his fingers. The small smile he’d had on his face vanished when he finally caught sight of Dean.

“Ah, Dean.” Castiel couldn’t seem to meet his gaze, and instead turned back to fiddling with the plants in front of him. “Did you need something?”

“Not from you.” Dean replied, icy.

At that, Dean could almost see Castiel wilting in place. God, he didn’t need to feel like shit for being curt with an intruder.

“Look, is Joshua around?” Dean asked, trying to find a good reason to get out of this.

Castiel gestured back to the entrance to the water filtration room.

Dean took the out and made his way through the hanging green to the side room. Joshua was working at the bench next to the door, looking through a magnifying glass that was clipped to a stand. Even with hands full manipulating a small filter out of its corresponding holder, Joshua found the time to look up and give Dean a judgmental look as he came in.

“What?”

“Did you forget he works every other day shift in the green room, Dean?”

Dean could only grumble.

“We do have a rec room, you know.” After a moment, Joshua added, “If you want to relax with no one around, go to the AGF room. Nothing prettier than active AGF metal.”

"Yeah, yeah. I could make a joke about needing space, but I don't think I'm in the mood for-"

A flash of red made them both look up, mid-speech. No alarms had gone off, so it wasn’t an emergency, but there was definitely something going on.

Dean’s comm blinked twice, and he glanced down to see Benny’s name flash on the small screen. He pressed the button on the side. “Yeah, Benny? What is it?”

“Looks like we have some pressing extra-shift work to do. I’ll meet you by the cockpit in five.”

Dean suppressed a sigh. “Alright, see you there.”

He nodded to Joshua and backtracked back through the green room, pointedly ignoring the curious stare Castiel gave him on his way out.

No doubt most of the crew would congregate at the cockpit to find out why the red alert had gone off. He had no doubt Joshua and Castiel would be right behind him.

When Dean arrived to the cockpit, Pam, Ellen, and Benny were gathered around a side screen, talking quietly amongst themselves. When Benny saw Dean, he broke away and passed Dean, striding back into the hall.

“Where are you going?” Dean asked, but Benny only jerked his head in a follow gesture.

Dean got a bad feeling when Benny led them over to the airlock antechamber. “Pam said there was a malfunction in the calculations for tracking space debris. Apparently one of our main sensors got hit just now before she noticed there was a problem,” Benny said, taking down one of the suits and handing it to Dean. Dean took it, mind too filled with staticky panic to even think to protest. “It’s not too late, so I’d thought we’d take care of it now and get Pam started on quality control sooner rather than later.”

Benny was too busy picking out his own suit and stepping into it that he didn’t notice Dean had frozen in place until he was half-way suited up. When he did, Benny stopped as well. Apparently whatever expression Dean had on his face was all Benny needed to figure out the problem. “Dean, why didn’t you say anything before?”

He didn’t sound accusing, but Dean could only shrug miserably in reply. His throat felt too tight with nerves to talk. This was why he’d never taken the higher pay to work on in-space ships. After his Mom’s spacer accident, he’d been terrified of open space, and Dean had been never been able to shake it.

“What’s going on?” Ellen asked from behind him, making Dean startle badly.

When he turned around, there was a veritable crowd gathering at the door to the antechamber. Jo was right behind Ellen, and Castiel and Joshua had followed as well. Great, more people to witness this shining moment. Dean could feel his face heat up.

“Dean can’t do the spacewalk. I might not be able to do it alone, but-.”

“I can help.”

Everyone turned and looked at Castiel.

“Send me out with Benny.”

Ellen appraised him, eyes calculating. Benny shrugged when Ellen looked over at him. “Alright, I’ll approve it,” she started, and when Jo half stepped forward Ellen put up a hand to stop her. “Just remember what the consequences are for any funny business.”

Castiel nodded his head once in agreement.

“Alight, everyone,” Ellen said, “if you all are gonna hang around, do it from the cockpit, not next to the airlock.”

As the rest of the crew followed orders, Castiel came forward and took the suit from Dean’s hands. Dean looked away when Castiel started to suit up, and watched Benny work his arms into the suit. Benny jerked his head to the hallway. “I got this, Dean. Go watch from the cockpit.”

Dean took the hint.

 

When Dean made it to the cockpit, he made his way over to the group that had crowded around the analytics screen that covered one side of the far wall. Sam was there as well, next to Pam, so Dean stood next to him and ruffled his hair in greeting. Sam made a face at him.

Ellen and Jo were in their command chairs, facing away from the rest of them, preparing for the EVA. Benny and Castiel must’ve already put on their helmets, because Benny was already talking over the radio Ellen had keyed up to the speaker in the cockpit. “-good? Is it on tight enough?”

Castiel’s voice crackled over the radio as well. “Yes.”

“Alright, once I actually see the damage, then I’ll decide what we do from there. All you have to do is what I tell you to. Hopefully it’ll be an easy fix. Ready?”

It must have been a visual confirmation, because Ellen’s console beeped.

“You’re clear for opening the airlock. Go ahead,” Ellen said.

“Copy.”

Ellen turned to Jo. “Can you get a visual for us?” Jo nodded.

Soon enough, a corner of the window flickered and became a screen for them to watch the two cautiously make their way to the sensor. With the gravity the AGF was producing, there was no need for them to clip onto the side of the ship, but they each had one on their belt just in case. Instead, they walked on the hull in their grey and blue suits until one of the two bent down to inspect the damaged metal. The other stood to the side and tilted the visor to look up into deep space.

“How’s it looking, Benny?” Ellen asked, leaning back in her chair.

“Looks like it got hit on the top panel and the dent broke some of the inside wiring. I think I have all I need to repair the circuitry, but I’ll just have to leave the panel open. Castiel, can you hold this open for me?”

The repair went as smoothly as it could, and Benny and Castiel finished up within the hour. Once it was working again, Pam dragged Sam’s attention back to the side screen.

“Hey guys?” Jo said from her corner of the room, once Castiel and Benny had already gone through the airlock back into the antechamber. “Did you see any damage to our radio receptors as well?

“No, not that I could see,” Benny answered over the comm. “Why do you ask?”

Jo was holding a headset up to one ear. “I lost communications with Charis right after you finished.”

“We could go back out there and look-“

“No-“ Jo told him, “no, I think our receptor is working fine. Listen to what replaced it.” Jo fiddled with the console in front of her, and then the speakers let out a high pitched hum, like the feedback loop in a speaker.

“Interference?” Ellen asked. Jo could only shrug.

“God, what is that? It’s horrible,” Benny said, finally coming into the cockpit, Castiel right behind him.

As soon as Castiel heard it though, he stiffened in place. “Where are you picking that up from?” he almost snapped, striding forward. He seemed to remember himself when Ellen halfway came out of her chair, alarmed at the sudden vehemence. “Please, turn it off! It’s dangerous to amplify the sound-

“Jo, do as he says.” Ellen interrupted, and the speaker was silenced. There was a beat of utter quiet before Ellen went on. “I knew you were keeping a lot from us, Castiel, but I didn’t think it would affect the safety of my crew until just now. Choose your next words carefully.”

Castiel was staring out the window, like he was trying to see the source of that noise. “I- I know I haven’t been entirely forthright in answering your questions. I didn’t think the outcome was worth it, but now I do.” He turned to Jo. “It was coming from Charis Station?”

Jo glanced over at Ellen for confirmation, but then nodded, still hesitant.

Castiel’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought they would’ve stopped with Hephaestus.”

 “They?” Ellen said deliberately.

“Charis Station was destroyed, just like Hephaestus. I’m not fully healed enough for a true explanation, but maybe a demonstration will do.” With that, Castiel looked down at the regulator comm circling his wrist. It was thicker than most, designed to electrically shock the wearer into submission if there was misbehavior. Castiel grabbed it with his other hand and ripped it off his wrist like it was made of tissue paper instead of metal.

The sound of squealing metal didn’t cover the shouts of surprise as they all jumped back from Castiel. After a moment of silence, Castiel look turned sheepish. “..That was not the best course of action to show you all my good intentions. Apologies.”

“What the hell are you?” Jo’s voice shook.

“I don’t think you have a word for us yet. I cannot pronounce our real name with this throat.”

“But- you’re a human! Ash checked!”

Castiel looked down at himself. “Yes, this body is human. I’m occupying it to interact with all of you.”

“Hephaestus – it was attacked by your kind?” Ellen asked, “Why?”

That answer came slower. “Hephaestus is one of our planets that has…very personal significance to our race. The destruction of your colony was a – retribution for the crimes we saw there.”

“Retribution? What could we have done that was worth wiping out a defenseless colony?” Dean snapped, quickly getting over his fear.

“I don’t wish to say now. It’s –“

“-personal. Yeah, okay.” Dean finished for him, scoffing.

 “Last time they – I didn’t know they would continue. I thought once they’d taken Hephaestus back they’d be satisfied.”

There was silence at that.

“So, they’re not going to stop?” Ellen asked. “How far is your kind going to go?”

Castiel shook his head. “There will be war. I don’t know if it ends with humanities destruction or not.”

"Like the Great Cloud massacre?" Pam questioned. "Will they care if they know we didn't know what we were doing?"

Again, Castiel shook his head. "Not for this crime."


	8. The Gate

This time, there wasn’t a crowd surrounding the shuttle. Buildings surrounded the empty courtyard, looming over Sam and Jess, watching them with grayed windowpanes. The sky had been stained a dark red, with clouds boiling black on the horizon.

Sam led Jess forward by their joined hands, first at a slow trot, then building up to running as fast as he could get them to go across the barren courtyard.

He wasn't prepared to have anything stop them, so a hard tug was all that was needed for Sam to lose his grip on her hand.

“Jess, c’mon, we have to-“ Sam started, turning, until he saw Castiel standing between them. With no effort at all, Castiel had caught Jess by the neck, lifting her off her feet. She scrabbled to free herself, but Castiel was too strong to even notice the effort.

“No! Let her go!” Sam yelled, starting towards them.

That got a reaction. Castiel turned his head, and all his attention focused on Sam. Without a word, Castiel tossed Jess away from them both, and had a hold on Sam in the next heartbeat.

There was that second of disorientation again, as Sam found himself somewhere else too fast, but this time he pushed Castiel away from him and stumbled away. Castiel had teleported them into the shuttle, between the rows of empty seats ready for take-off. Sam could feel the engine rumble to life beneath their feet. 

"No! Not without Jess!" Sam growled, and his eyes caught on the closed shuttle door on the other side of the ship’s hull.

He vaulted over the middle seats before Castiel could stop him, and got there just as Jess made it up to the other side of the door. She pounded on the thick reinforced window as he fumbled with the door controls, not daring to waste time to look behind him.

An alarm beeped overhead as the door started to open, and a hand grabbed his arm from behind.

“Jess!-“ Sam called out, but froze at the look on Jess’s face as the door opened for her.

She smiled at him.

The hand forced him backwards, turning him around.

“Sam, what the hell are you doing?!?” Dean’s voice broke through the fog, and Sam gaped at his furious face in confusion.

“Dean? What?-“ Sam looked back, and had to do a double-take.

The door to the Impala's airlock stood open wide behind him, alarm still beeping overhead. 

Realization crashed over him like a bucket of ice water.

Dean pulled him back and sat him down on the bench in the antechamber, next to the suits. Sam couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t wearing one. The adrenaline made him shake like a leaf. 

“Sam,” Dean’s voice was heavy now, “were you trying- to-“

“No!” Sam cut him off, face heating up, “God no, Dean, I would never- I was asleep – and, and Jessica was there – and I was trying to- to save her-“ he cut himself off, looking away. Sam hated the fact that his voice wouldn’t stop wavering.

“You were sleepwalking?” Dean asked, sitting next to him. “You’ve never done that before.”

Sam shrugged.

Dean brought his comm up to his face, broadcasting to the public channel. “Hey guys, airlocks been dealt with, can I get some privacy here for the next few minutes?”

A couple of reluctant agreements replied, and Dean palmed the back of his neck.

They sat in silence for a long moment, while Dean gathered his thoughts and Sam tried to pull it together.

Before Dean could ask him anymore probing questions, Sam started talking on his own. “I know what you’re gonna say, Dean, how we’re all trying to deal with Hephaestus and all that, but I just-“ Sam’s hands had balled into fists, anger curling hot in his gut. “Now that I know I wasn’t imagining it, when Castiel saved me –“

“Sam-“

“He could’ve saved Jessica too, Dean. Why didn’t he?”

 

* * *

 

 

 Dean could only pace back and forth in impatience outside the medbay, waiting as Ash looked Sam over. Bobby waited with him, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.

“Wearing a hole in the floor isn’t gonna make this go faster, boy,” Bobby groused.

Dean just grunted and continued pacing. Wasn’t like the opposite was going to make this go faster either. Nothing to do but worry and hope Sam was alright.

Movement out of the corner of his eye had Dean finally slowing to a stop. Ash appeared at the entrance to the medbay rooms, gesturing them closer.

“Well, good news and bad news fellas,” Ash said, still typing away on his comm. “Good news is, Sam is fit as a fiddle physically. The picture of health, if you will.”

“And the bad?” Bobby asked, arms still crossed.

“The sleepwalking is probably stemming from the trauma of losing Jess. Hephaestus in general, really. I was expecting to see some psychological strains and depression, so this isn't surprising. He’ll need to see someone when we get through the Gate.”

“And until then?”

Ash shrugged. “We have a few options. Medication to put him way under at night, locked doors, putting a watch on nights. It’s all up to you guys and Sam, really.”

“Thanks, Ash,” Dean said. “Can we go see him now?”

Ash nodded. “Go ahead. He’s waiting for you two.” He stepped aside to let Dean and Bobby in.

Sam still sat on the examination table, hunched over and looking miserable. "Sorry, Dean."

"Not your fault, Sammy," Dean said, grabbing Sam's arm and squeezing. 

 

After they got Sam settled in for the rest of the morning, Dean went to find Castiel.

The rest of the crew treated him like a live wire, now that they knew he could do untold damage with no way of stopping him.

Dean might be crazy to think the opposite.

Now that he knew where Castiel stood, Dean found himself a lot more certain Castiel wasn’t a threat. Not to them, at least. Castiel could’ve ripped the ship apart long ago, and he hadn’t. The first time Dean had seen him, Castiel had been catatonic, and then weaker than a kitten when he’d finally woken up. And for what? To save Sam? To warn them of his own kind?

Something was going on. Dean had more of the pieces, but not enough to see the whole picture.

He found Castiel in the green room again, sitting on the floor next to the algae tanks, his back against the wall. He'd tilted his head back against the wall, eyes closed, looking all the world like he was taking a nap. Now that Dean knew Castiel wasn’t human, his humanoid manners made Dean feel weird.  

After a moment of Dean standing there, unsure of whether to do this standing or sitting down as well, Castiel smiled and opened his eyes to look up at Dean.

“You’re not afraid of me.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, guess I’m not,” Dean replied. He remained standing and tossed the photo display to Castiel, who caught it just in time. “I believe this is yours.”

Castiel stared at him for a long second before looking down at the display. It flickered to life, showing the old pictures of Dean and Sam as kids. Dean watched Castiel as he noticed the crack in the screen and dragged a thumb across its surface. His expression was inscrutable. 

“Funny thing is, you being an alien doesn’t explain this, does it?”

A split second of hesitation, and Castiel answered, “No, it does not.”

“Why won't you tell us anything?” Dean could hear his frustration creeping into his voice. Castiel looked away.

“I wanted you and Sam to live. Isn’t that enough?” he replied, tone almost bitter. When Castiel offered up the photo display, the screen caught the light, shiny and whole again.

Dean eyed it but didn't move to take it.

“And the rest of Hephaestus? Not worth it?” That got his attention. Castiel pinned him with an icy stare.

“It was me against a battalion of my brethren. I did what I could.” He was still holding up the photo display, so Dean took it reluctantly.

“And now? What do you think we can do, if they’re that powerful?”

It was clear from his silence that Castiel had no answer to that.

When Dean left him still leaning against the wall, Castiel looked more tired than he had at the beginning of their conversation.

 

For the last few days before they reached the Gate, the crew prepared the Impala for zero-G, strapping everything down that could float away and switching over to contained food and liquids. Sam was prepared this time for the switchover, Dean noted proudly, keeping his own grip on a handhold as Pam switched the AGF light. They’d had a few more incidents of Sam trying to sleepwalk out of his room when the drugs didn’t work, but he’d never gotten as far as the first time.

“Decelerating now,” Jo piped up from her chair, eyes glued onto the screen in front of her. They were still a ways out from the Gate, but there was always traffic to be avoided, and wait times for the right connections.

Ellen turned in her chair, looking back at Benny and Dean. “We’re several hours out still, so get some shut-eye before we get there. I want you two ready to help Pam if she needs it during the Gate transition.”

“Yes ma’am,” Benny replied, and pushed off from the wall backwards, twisting around midair and floating to the entrance with practiced ease. Dean watched him nervously before making his way out as well, one arm always in reach of a handhold.

“Careful there Dean, we might reach the Gate before you get to your room!” Jo called after him, and laughed when Dean flipped her the bird over his shoulder.

It didn’t take Dean that long to get to his room, despite stopping by the mess hall for a bite to eat, but it did take him another hour to drift into a fitful nap, disturbed by quasi nightmares he couldn’t quite remember. His body hadn’t adjusted to sleeping weightlessly at all.

Soon enough, a knock at his door woke him up, and Dean blearily untangled himself from his bed.

Bobby and Sam were waiting outside in the hall. “Ellen just sent us to get you,” Sam said, too bright-eyed for Dean right now, “we’re approaching the Gate already. It’s synced up to the one for Nadai’s system, so we’re already in the gravity well.”

“Can I walk again?” Dean groaned, and Sam made a face at him. “No- don’t even start,” Dean hurriedly tacked on, to avoid the lesson Sam was about to drop on him. “I know about AGF inertia interference, you nerd.”

Sam stuck his tongue out at him.

“Alright, alright, put that thing away,” Bobby said, “enough lollygagging.”

They both meekly nodded and followed as Bobby floated away towards the cockpit, but that didn’t stop Dean from pushing Sam into the middle of the hallway, so he spun wildly until he caught a handhold and glared at him.

When Dean saw the Gate through the cockpit window, he halted in place and stared. It was one thing to see pictures, but it could never prepare someone for its sheer size in person. Curved spines of AGF metal had been fused together to create a massive circle, so large only a portion of it could be seen from where Dean was standing. It was lit up from the inside, the characteristic pearlescent multicolored light shimmering bright.

The wormhole generated in the center of the circle looked like a halo. Light from the other side leaked out on the peripheral edges, but the real wormhole was a literal black hole, unsettlingly dark and flat.

Dean almost didn’t hear Ellen as she made the alert, and blinked back into focus when he was pulled back onto the floor as Pam turned the AGF heavy.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Sam said faintly, and Dean turned to look at him. Sam had been staring out the window at the Gate too, face pale, but then he spun and raced out of the room.  

 


	9. AGF

“Control, this is the Impala,” Ellen said, pulling up complicated data onto her side screen, “requesting AGF synchronization access.”

“You ever been through a Gate?” Jo asked Dean, swiveling in her chair to face him. It took a minute for Dean to pull his attention away from the massive structure filling his vision.

“Hm? Wh- oh, no I haven’t.” Dean remembered the Impala, but Mary hadn’t been able to do long hauls across deep space with two small kids in tow. Instead, she’d done courier runs between Hephaestus and Charis Station until her accident. Dean had been old enough to remember that much at least.

“It’s a freakin _trip_. At least, when you’re in the cockpit to see it. Rufus throws up every time so he’s not allowed up here during the jump anymore.”

“Jo,” Ellen reminded her, and Jo swiped her screen data over to Pam’s station.

“So how does this work?” Dean asked, shifting on his feet. “All I know is it gets you from one system to another. Why did you need Benny and I ready to go?”

Pam and Jo looked at each other.

“What?” Dean said, more nervous than before.

Benny was the one to answer that. “Didn’t you know that this’s the most dangerous part of space travel? If anything goes wrong with our AGF synching with the Gate, we’ll be torn apart in the wormhole. And since we’re already in the gravity well…” he let the sentence trail off, but Dean could finish the idea just fine.

“Man, why’d you guys have to tell me this now?” Dean grumbled, and Benny thumped him on the shoulder.

“Seems like you weren’t paying attention in school, brother, or you’d know this by now.”

That was right on the money, but Dean didn’t say anything else as he watched Ellen and Pam prepare the Impala for their Gate jump with practiced efficiency. They were trying their best to ignore Castiel, standing in the back of the cockpit with arms crossed, radiating tension as he stared out the window at the Gate.

Curious, Dean made his way over to Castiel. When Castiel reflexively glanced over at the approaching movement to see Dean, he seemed to consciously untense, hiding his reaction to the Gate. An incredibly human action for an alien. It made Dean wonder just how long Castiel had been pretending to be one of them.

Dean gestured to the window when he got close enough. “You nervous about this?”

Castiel’s eyes slid back to the Gate. “…No.”

“Really? Cause you seem incredibly tense to me.”

Castiel shook his head slowly. “I’m not nervous. I just- I will never be used to seeing-“ he gestured to the Gate, “this.”

“Scarily cool, huh?”

When Castiel looked at him this time, Dean knew that had been the wrong thing to say.

“Hey, Dean?” Pam said from her console, and Dean dropped his gaze and turned in her direction.

“Yeah?”

“You wanna go check on Sam while we set up the jump? We’ll have a little bit before the AGF is synched.”

“I-yeah, that’s a good idea.” Sam had looked pretty pale when he’d bolted, but he should’ve been reoriented by now.

With a final glance back at Castiel, Dean made his way out of the cockpit and down the hallway.

It was a quick jaunt to the closest bathroom, and Dean leaned just inside to check for Sam. “Sammy, you in here?” After checking that the stall was empty, Dean stepped back out into the hall.

The mess hall was next on the way, but it too stood empty.

“Sammy, c’mon, we’re about to make the jump!” Dean called, turning down the small hallway that their rooms were off of.

He halted in his tracks when he saw the door of Sam’s room, metal twisted outward like an explosion had blown it open from the inside.

“SAM?” Dean rushed forward to peer through the destroyed door. The metal frames of the furniture had been bent and broken, tossed haphazardly around the room, the wall screen fractured into pieces.

Sam wasn’t in his room now, but something bad had happened here. There was only one person- _thing_ – that could possibly do this, but he’d been in the cockpit the whole time Dean had. Right?

Dean backed out of the room, heart pounding in his chest.

The lights went out.

For a few seconds, Dean thought he’d gone blind, blinking in absolute darkness. He stumbled to the side, banging his hand on the wall just as the gravity began to go.

There was a crazy moment where Dean couldn’t place himself, turning in place with only one hand anchoring him down, his harsh breathing the only noise filling his ears.

The emergency lights flickered to life, bathing the hallway a dim blood-red.

His comm light up with searing bright light, crackling on. “Dean, wherever you are, you need to go meet Pam at the AGF room _right now_ ,” Benny said over the comm, voice strained. Dean could hear Ellen yelling in the background before the line turned off.

“Shitshitshitshit-“ Dean whispered to himself, white-knuckling the hallway railing. It took him a few heartbeats to gather up the courage to push off down the hallway, heading for the AGF room. “You can do this. No problem.” They just had to fix the AGF before they got sucked into the wormhole and were all crushed to death.

Dean made his way down the red hallways as fast as he could make himself go, passing the mess hall again before turning the corner to the engineering block.

He smelled something burning right before he collided with something in the middle of the hallway. Unprepared for debris, Dean let himself glance off and hit the wall with a grunt.

“The hell-“ Dean said, turning to look at the object he’d run into.

Pam’s face stared back at him, eyes burnt out of their sockets, still slightly smoking. Her body thunked into the opposite wall before bouncing off, rotating slowly in zero-G.

Dean put a hand over his face and tried to stop himself from dry-heaving. He turned away and focused on the metal grating in front of him.

When he recovered enough, Dean hovered a hand over his comm. He didn’t know who to call. Ellen? Bobby? He brought up his contact list and dialed the first one.

“Sammy, answer your damned comm.” Dean muttered when it didn’t connect.

Something grabbed at his shoulder, and Dean tried to break out of it, kicking off the wall. It didn’t do any good. Dean felt like he’d been stopped by a steel girder.

“Dean, stop struggling,” Castiel said.

Dean turned around, wary. “Did you do this?”

Castiel only spared a glance over to Pam’s body. “No. There’s another like me on board. You’re not safe here.”

“No shit.” Dean jerked at the arm Castiel still had a hold of until he let go. “We have to fix the AGF before we get pulled into the Gate. The resident expert was just murdered and I know jack shit, so do you know anything about it?”

“Yes, of course, but-“ Dean was making his way down the hall before Castiel could finish. “Dean, wait-“

Dean got to the AGF room before Castiel caught up, surveying the destruction. Shards of the transparent protective radiation shielding glittered in the air, and beneath the broken panel the blackened AGF metal had been cleaved in two. “Oh, Jesus.”

“I can't fix this.” Castiel said from behind him.

Dean tried to think of any alternatives to what awaited them in the Gate without a working AGF. “There has to be something else we can do -“

“There is- a way.” Castiel told him. “Come. We should be in the cockpit.”

Dean’s comm crackled to life again, scaring him into flinching. “Dean?” Ellen’s voice said, “are you in the AGF room? Pam’s not answering her comm. What’s happening back there?”

 _Nothing good,_ Dean thought to himself, but raised his comm. “Ellen, Pam’s been- she’s dead. The AGF was destroyed.”

There was dead silence over the line as Ellen took that in. “How did the AGF get destroyed?”

“Sabotage.” Castiel replied over Dean’s comm. “Stay the course. There’s a way for you all to survive this still.”

“We’re stuck in the Gate’s gravity well. We don’t have much of a choice.” With that, Ellen turned the line off.

Dean followed behind Castiel as he glided through the hallways towards the cockpit. They had to pass Pam’s body once again, the acrid smell clinging in his nose.

Ellen called his comm when they were halfway there.

“You guys trying to open the airlock again by any chance?” Ellen asked, and Dean and Castiel looked at one another.

“Sam,” Dean said, and pulled himself forward faster.

They got there just as the airlock fully depressurized. Dean got to the inner door and found himself looking through the port hole window. There was someone in there wearing a space suit, facing the outer door as it opened and revealed the shimmering halo of the Gate. They were very close to the black maw of the wormhole, but that wasn’t what Dean was focused on.

“Hey!” Dean yelled, banging on the airlock door with a fist. “Stop!”

There wouldn’t have been any noise on the other side, but for some reason the person turned around, and Dean saw Sam in the suit, smiling back at him.

“SAM!” Dean lunged for the controls but Castiel grabbed him and dragged him back.

“Dean, that’s not your brother!”

Sam jumped backwards, out of the airlock.

“NO! SAM!” Dean struggled as Castiel forcibly restrained him, and watched in horror as Sam’s form got smaller and smaller, drifting away from the ship.

“There’s nothing we can do for him now, Dean!” Castiel said as Dean tried to pry away from him.

A few heartbeats more, and Sam was swallowed up by the blackness of the Gate.

He was gone.

Dean stopped struggling.

“Dean, we have to get to the cockpit. Quickly now.” Castiel ordered, and Dean was too shell-shocked to do anything as Castiel led him forward by the hand.

Ellen, Jo, and Benny were waiting in the cockpit, tense as bowstrings.

The Gate was so close, only the black of the wormhole filled the cockpit window. Dean could feel the subtle vibration of the Impala as it approached, ready to shake apart. Castiel let go of Dean’s hand to go directly to the window, and suddenly he changed direction midair to land on the floor in front of Ellen and Jo’s chairs.

The shaking was getting worse.  

Castiel placed his hands on the glass in front of him. “Everyone, if you want to keep your eyesight, close your eyes.”

“What-?” Jo started, but then Castiel began to glow. Gravity pulled Dean down to the floor as Castiel got brighter.

A familiar high pitched hum filled the air, and Castiel was so bright now that Dean had to close his eyes and shield his face.

If anyone screamed, it couldn’t be heard over the noise.

 

It took a long time for Dean to risk lowering his hands, his ears still ringing in the absence of sound.

Dean had to look down at himself to make sure he was in one piece, and watched as the other three humans did the same.

“Holy shit.” Jo breathed. “We’re alive.”

“That- that shouldn’t’ve been possible.” Ellen said.

“What did Castiel do?” Benny asked, and Dean blinked and looked around at that.

Castiel wasn’t standing at the front of the cockpit anymore. He’d slumped to the floor, unmoving.

“Cas?” Dean said, striding forward. “Hey- you okay?”

Dean went to his knees to roll Castiel over, and Castiel’s head lolled to the side when he did. Castiel’s eyes were still open, staring straight ahead.

Alarm started to rise in Dean’s chest. “Hey, Cas-“ Dean put out a hand above his mouth, but couldn’t feel any movement. He wasn’t breathing.

“Hey, Dean, um-“ Jo started, but Dean ignored her and tried to find a pulse.

“C’mon, man, don’t do this to me.” Dean said, pulling up Ash’s contact on his comm.

“DEAN!” Jo yelled at him, and Dean whirled around.

“What?!? What is so damn important-“ Dean started, but Jo and Ellen were both pointing out the window. He trailed off when he followed their gazes out.

What Dean had thought had been the blackness of space moved and twisted, light reflecting off a massive structure. It was incredibly complex, wheels gyroscoping around the center, and shifting shape like a living thing. Fractals bloomed across its surface, streaks of multicolored lights growing slowly and streaking through the surface like silvery fish, until the whole surface glowed a pearlescent, multicolored white.

The overhead speakers let out a high pitched shrill before quieting, and then a familiar voice spoke. “Do you understand now?” Castiel asked over the speaker.

Dean looked down at Castiel’s human body, still unmoving, and then back up to the structure hanging in front of their ship.

The same material that hovered before them was inlaid in every space-faring ship humanity had, and broken down and strung together to make Gates, giving them the ability to transport instantaneously from one solar system to the next.

Hephaestus had been a mining colony, digging up veins of the AGF metal to power ships out of what many had jokingly referred to as a graveyard of a planet.

They’d been very right about that.

What race wouldn’t want retribution for the desecration of their dead?

“Oh, shit.” Dean said, faintly.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
